The semiotics of landscape design communication: towards a critical visual research approach in landscape architecture

In landscape architecture, visual representations are the primary means of communication between stakeholders in design processes. Despite the reliance on visual representations, little critical research has been undertaken by landscape architects on how visual communication forms work or their socio-political implications. In this theoretical paper, we argue that such research is of great importance. We explain how concepts of visual and critical social theory such as visual semiotics, simulacra and simulation, and power/knowledge can be used to critically reflect on landscape architectural representations. We further propose to study these representations at different stages of meaning-making by using visual methodologies such as visual discourse analysis, iconographical content analysis and social semiotic analysis. We conclude that these research approaches have the potential to explain issues such as dominant power structures, miscommunication between participants, and visual path-dependencies during landscape design processes.     

Maintaining style of garden designs by using graph-based constraints

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for a computer aided garden design tool. The presented system supports the conceptual stage of the design process during which gardens in a given style should be created. First, a conceptualization of the design domain is defined. On this basis a visual language composed of design drawings and the internal graph-based structures representing the drawings are specified. Operations on graph structures, which reflect design actions performed on design drawings, are proposed. Sets of requirements which determine object styles are defined in terms of logic formulas which are mapped into graph-based constraints. Styles of the generated solutions are accessed by the system using the graph-based reasoning mechanism, where the satisfaction of constraints by internal representations of design drawings is checked. The approach is illustrated on examples of designing gardens in different styles.     

Regardless if it is comedy,action, thriller,or biography: A review of urban crime in the 1980s cinema of Chicago

This study investigates the cinematic representation of city crime transactions in Chicago in the 1980s. The narrative nature of cinema provides an imaginative context for interpreting the physical and nonphysical dimensions of urban crimes. From a critical interpretive position, based on Peirce's semiotics, this study uses “urban cinesemiotics” as the method to select image signs, identify their associated Chicagoan objects, and interpret their design-oriented meaning. The theoretical roots of crime prevention through environmental design constitute the basis for the interpretation of movies. A total of 27 crime-related scenes from 9 Chicagoan movies made in the 1980s illustrate that most urban settings suffer from the lack of crime-preventive environmental design. In particular, natural surveillance (eyes on the street), encounter and enclosure, and border vacuums are major environmental factors that affect urban crimes in Chicago. Some crime scenes also depict why environmental design cannot influence individuals' criminal intentions necessarily nor can they solve urban safety single-handedly.     

Overlooking the visual

It is widely acknowledged in literature on design theory and confirmed as part of the research project 'Cognitive abilities and the art of design' that in order to design, not only is it necessary to be visually aware, but also that visual thinking is an important part of the design process. But do we know why? One of the findings of the research project is that what visual awareness or visual thinking entails is far from clear. How these concepts relate to each other and to similar notions such as visual literacy, the visual language or visual skill, visualisation or imaging remains ambiguous. What is clear is that whenever 'the visual' is referred to in design theory, what is being invoked in one way or another is a mode of thinking closely associated with creativity, subjectivity and intuition. A metaphysical concept, this is deeply problematic educationally. How students might be taught any skills associated with the visual, or indeed, whether or not it is possible to teach anything visual is debatable.

The thesis of this paper is that difficulties surrounding the concept are philosophical, rather than psychological or cognitive. After introducing the main concerns of pragmatism, the paper considers various interconnected and related interpretations of the visual. It outlines problems these interpretations cause in the design studio and explores the philosophical foundations of the concept. To clarify its role in design, the paper offers an alternative analysis of the visual from a pragmatic perspective. Shifting paradigms to dispense with the need to rely on the notion of different modes of thinking, provides a basis not only to give a definition of visual skill which has a clear educational rationale, but also to make explicit the role of visual skill in the design process and to throw light on the apparently elusive connection between design theory and practice. The overall ambition of this research is to make it easier to teach and develop artistic sensibility in design. This paper is based on a conference paper presented at the ECLAS (European Conference of Landscape Architecture Schools) conference in Berlin in September 1999.

It emerges from the research project 'Cognitive abilities and the art of design' funded by the Leverhulme Trust, an investigation of the philosophy and practice of design education within landscape architecture. This involved interviewing eminent practitioners and educators in landscape architecture, both in the United States and Europe, analysis of questionnaires undertaken by students of landscape architecture and drawings undertaken by children and students from a range of disciplines. It draws on several years' experience teaching landscape design studios at undergraduate and postgraduate level. (A book developing this research is to be published shortly by Routledge.)     

Natursyns model: A conceptual framework and method for analysing and comparing views of nature

This article presents a conceptual framework and methodology by which stakeholders’ views of nature can be investigated, explained, compared and ‘ideal types’ distilled based on qualitative interviews and, plans, laws and other texts analysed. The aim of such studies is to increase the knowledge about personal, social and cultural aspects of landscape and their relations in general to improve the basis of countryside planning and management in particular. Within the Natursyns model (the Danish word ‘natur’ corresponding to “nature” in English and “syn” implying perceived, imagined, cognized and culturally agreed interpretations) landscape is understood simultaneously as: ‘habitat’, unrealised sense impressions; ‘area’, all the ways in which nature is cognised; and as ‘symbol’, all types of representations of nature and its parts. The use of the model is illustrated; its epistemological foundation, the semiotics and phaneroscopy (phenomenology) of the American philosopher Charles S. Peirce, is described; the content of its fields explained; and benefits and shortcomings discussed.     

基于符号学的地域建筑细部设计初探

针对建筑行业中建筑创作以及细部设计问题,文章采用符号学理论对现代建筑设计方法进行分析,寻找符号思维运用于建筑细部设计的表达方法和模式,继而对建筑方案创作提出有价值的建议。     

Artistic Urbanism: Multi-Scalar Spatial Governance of Songzhuang Art District by the Local Government

Taking Beijing's Songzhuang Art District as an example, this paper conducts an integrated evolutionary and multi-scalar governance analytical framework through participant's observations, in-depth qualitative interviews, and extensive evaluations of policy documents. It aims to explore the transformation modes of art districts under the intervention of multi-scalar spatial governance and the roles of local governments in the course of development. The research places the spatial development into a wider theoretical context of local developmental state, local state corporatism, and entrepreneurial state, as well as to combine the socio-political objectives together with economic goals of the local government. The study argues that Songzhuang has witnessed a unique form of artistic urbanism, a process of rapid urbanization of villages in the art-led development. Local governments have competed for taking control of spatial governance through actions characterized by decentralization, alliance, and entrepreneurship, following the logic of performing an overall control over the socio-political, economic, and cultural aspects of art districts, and profiting from land market.     

长木公园——世界杰出的园艺展示园

长木公园是世界杰出的园艺展示园之一,其精湛的花园设计、园艺、教育以及艺术品鼓舞人心.长木公园的展览将永久性栽植和时令花卉种植结合在一起,加入诠释性展览和表演艺术活动,整体协调成为一种综合性的游览体验.长木公园的园艺展示团队将强大的设计原则与9500多个独特的植物类群相结合,达到展示视觉效果的最大化.团队经常与世界一流的设计师合作来开发新的展览主题和空间.密集的季节性展览,很大程度上得益于公园的1.6万m2专用生产空间,可现场生产12万盆花卉.长木的技师团队也通过制造结构和机械元件来支持展览.顶尖的策划、设计、生产和执行结合在一起,创造出令人称奇的原创、独特的园艺展览,为来自各地的游客提供了美丽、兴奋和清幽的美好回忆.     

当代建筑中民族文化设计符号的能指隐喻修辞研究

该文以民族文化符号在当代建筑设计实践中的应用为研究目的,运用设计符号学的相关原理为理论基础,深入探讨了运用隐喻修辞这一方法解决实际设计问题的相关要素.能指隐喻的设计符号修辞,可以在具有民族特色的现代设计实践过程中,从设计符号学创意角度解决实际问题起到一定的积极作用.     

浅析建筑符号学

今天建筑学领域中,符号一词不再陌生,符号学对建筑设计的补充．无疑给建筑界添加了不少心的活力和生机。本文围绕着建筑符号学这一概念进行了介绍和研究,通过符号、符号学及建筑符号学的三个组成部分和建筑符号学的应用特征等几方面分析,从而使我们对于建筑符号学有更深的了解和认知。     

Representing sainthood in india: sikh and hindu visions of namdev

ABSTRACT

This article examines representations of the poet-saint Namdev in Indian popular art. Posters and calendars are the key mode of religious visual expression in India today, and are the locus of ongoing debates about sainthood and religious identity. The particular focus of this article is Namdev's representations in the state of Punjab, northwest India. Punjab is home to both Sikh and Hindu communities, which make competing claims about Namdev's relevance and hagiography. This article examines portrayals of Namdev in the poster art found at two Punjabi shrines: one at Ghoman, which draws mainly Sikh devotees, and one in Bassi Pathana, which has a predominantly Hindu base. These shrines produce and distribute portraits of Namdev that are strikingly different from each other. Additionally, it looks at Namdev art not explicitly associated with either shrine, which sometimes appears to represent a compromise between the Ghoman and Bassi Pathana portrayals. The representations of Namdev available in Punjab today illustrate both tensions between regional and pan-Indian interpretations of sainthood and a newer debate within Sikhism itself as to how “Sikh” Sikh religious art must be.     

Applying design science approach to architectural design development

Unlike research methods for social and positivist sciences, those for architectural design lack a discipline-specific conceptual framework. Performative science aims at producing outcomes for future use and therefore needs a robust methodological approach that encompasses different techniques and methods supporting an evidence-based architectural design development. This study suggests that design science can be successfully applied to architectural design development and provides architects and designers with a powerful tool bridging the gap between research and design. In so doing, this study explores the application of design science to implement a user-centered design approach. A design challenge is reframed within the robust framework of design science by referring to a case study on refugee shelters. The traditional method by which shelter optimization is pursued by designers is questioned by involving the final users through an ethnographic approach within the framework of design science. The design outcome produced through this process is a list of specifications allowing designers to create different architectural solutions and matching the requirements expressed by future users. The authors argue that a user-centered design outcome can be achieved and validated through design science.     

Designing energy efficient commercial buildings—A systems framework

This paper provides a means for improving the effectiveness of energy related decision-making during the design phase of a building. A review of the literature and discussions with experts revealed that several approaches for an Integrated Design Process for energy efficient buildings exist. However, most of these approaches are relatively abstract and philosophical in nature, and do not prescribe procedures that enable energy efficient design.This paper attempts to address this gap by proposing a comprehensive design process titled the ‘Integrated Energy-Efficient Building Design Process’ (IEBDP). This process provides a framework based on systems theory that facilitates the integration of various facets of the energy-efficient alternatives selection process. In addition, the proposed framework seeks to integrate state-of-the-art analysis tools and methods, to aid designers in performing holistic building design. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-attribute decision-making technique is used to resolve conflicts amongst diverging design goals.The proposed IEBDP framework was then used to design an office building, taken as a case study, in the composite climate of New Delhi, India. It was found that considerable energy savings could be achieved by following the IEBDP process. The benefits of this framework vis-a-vis traditional energy efficient design approaches were evaluated by comparing the design done through the IEBDP process with designs submitted by a group of practicing architects. The various designs were evaluated in terms of strategies adopted, the level of exploration as well as design integration, in order to validate the applicability and use of the IEBDP framework.     

Computer-stimulated design: construction of a personal repertoire from scattered fragments

This paper describes some possibilities of creating and structuring a personal digital memory capable of facilitating architectural design and design learning. The raw materials of this memory are different representations that can be found on the Web. Having interpreted these representations, one is able to construct a meaningful memory, educated and personal, which can be called upon subsequently during the design phase, as long as one has a medium that can represent this memory and put it to good use. As a practical, effective application of this process, we will describe part of a configuration geared towards the learning of architectural design. This configuration is composed of various elements, precisely arranged in space and time in a set of interrelations and interactions. The design student is placed at the centre of the arrangement, from where he or she can call on a broad spectrum of possibilities from the Web as provider of image documents. When necessary, students can use specially developed software that allows them a verbal and pictorial interpretation stimulated during particular phases of the learning process. In this way, through pictorial material presented on the network, the students can build up a digital library appropriate to their own understanding of architecture and their own representation of the world. At this point, they can abandon the universe of digital documents and media and return to the world of materials and shapes in intensive design studio sessions, where slowly maturing ideas can at last find concrete form. Thus, we deal with the relationship between the public, shareable aspect of the documents, and the private aspect: the individual interpretation of these documents. In the same way, we show how, within the framework of the teaching programme that has been set up, and without interference, this relationship between public and private can be linked into a dimension of the work of learning which is at times personal, at times collective. The conclusion attempts to outline the issues raised by this sort of configuration, and to show how thoughtful use of computers and networks can stimulate and enrich design rather than just “aid” it, as is generally accepted.     

Integrating models for regional development decisions: A policy perspective

This paper develops and demonstrates a combined set of models to capture regional development decision processes. The results of the models are then integrated along with other socio-political factors within a policy relevant decision methodology framework. The Haynes and Dinc (1997) extension of the shift-share model identifies regional industrial sectors for analysis based on their scale, productivity and sources of productivity change. By employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the efficiency of these lead sectors is investigated and the future competitiveness of these sectors is evaluated. By incorporating input-output analysis the impact of inter-sectoral transactions on sectoral efficiency is assessed. Since in most cases state economic development planning and implementation processes also involve political judgements, based on the findings of the above models, the study suggests a decision support framework which combines the above mentioned quantitative tools with other qualitative decision factors. An Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed as a multi-objective decision making device to integrate the relevant policy components. Received: March 2001/Accepted: January 2002 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions are entirely those of authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its executive directors, or the countries the represent.     

Collections designers keep: Collecting visual material for inspiration and reference

A contextual inquiry is presented on how designers collect and organize visual material that they use for inspiration in their design process. The inquiry is a follow-up on a inquiry performed over ten years ago by one of the authors. The aim of the inquiry was to find considerations for a tool that helps designers in collecting visual material. The inquiry was performed at six Dutch design agencies and involved sensitizing the subjects through cultural probes. The designers reported collecting as a continuous background process without specific stages, processes or tools in the design process. Collections of visual material are used in making collages, which are all made using computers. Collected visual material is usually physical, whereas the visual material used in the collages are all digital images. The physical and digital collections are different in use and value in the design process. The paper finally presents six considerations for a tool to support the collecting behaviour by designers.     

Access to Cities for Teachers: Curriculum-proof Kids through Environmental Studies

Abstract

This paper critically assesses current architectural research, as represented in a sampling of papers presented at ACSA conferences, through the lens of research typologies related to people-place interactions taken from neighboring fields in the social sciences. Specifically, 253 papers from four ACSA conferences were assessed for methodological approaches to their objects of inquiry. This resulted in a tabulation of all the papers into nine methodological categories, ranging from interpretive approaches to causal-experimental approaches to design projects. These nine categories are critically evaluated in light of extant people-place research frameworks from the social science literature. The paper concludes by suggesting that established social science frameworks can help clarify the architectural research realm, particularly in the “interpretive” range, and that “design” offers a unique venue within which sociological approaches such as critical theory and/or grounded theory can find expression.     

Categories of ACSA Conference Papers:

This paper critically assesses current architectural research, as represented in a sampling of papers presented at ACSA conferences, through the lens of research typologies related to people-place interactions taken from neighboring fields in the social sciences. Specifically, 253 papers from four ACSA conferences were assessed for methodological approaches to their objects of inquiry. This resulted in a tabulation of all the papers into nine methodological categories, ranging from interpretive approaches to causal-experimental approaches to design projects. These nine categories are critically evaluated in light of extant people-place research frameworks from the social science literature. The paper concludes by suggesting that established social science frameworks can help clarify the architectural research realm, particularly in the "interpretive" range, and that "design" offers a unique venue within which sociological approaches such as critical theory and/or grounded theory can find expression.     

Thermal simulation software outputs: a framework to produce meaningful information for design decision-making

This paper describes a process used to develop and test a framework to produce thermal simulation post-processed information meaningful to building design decision-making. The framework adopts a user-centred approach in which the building designer is considered the ultimate simulation tool user either directly or indirectly when supported by consultants. The framework supports the building designer's ‘modus operandi’ and is developed through a set of interdisciplinary research methods. Participatory Action Research, Thematic Analysis and Grounded Theory are used, together with principles from Information Visualization, dynamic thermal modelling and Building Design, following a design approach to problem-solving taken from the discipline of Interaction Design. The various elements of the framework and their connections are derived from analysis of sequences of design actions made by novice designers undertaking complex design activities. Tests of the framework are undertaken through an online questionnaire and five semi-structured interviews with UK architectural design practices.     

浅析五感在建筑设计中的表现与运用

在当今浮躁的社会环境背景下,我们应该如何用心感受城市空间、建筑空间、室内空间,五感在设计中的研究显得越来越重要。特别是当视觉已经成为我们感知习惯时,以其作为主导的感知使我们产生错觉和感知错误时,我们该如何拓展其他感知的范围,增加空间的多重感知性。本文主要是通过研究五感的来源、五感在建筑设计中的表现,对不同感知的解析,阐述其在建筑设计中不同的感知形式对建筑设计的影响,并强调五感在建筑设计中的重要性。